Chemicals React
by kismet-wayfinder
Summary: AU oneshot. Rikai, Riku/Kairi. Sora and Riku return after yet another determined mission. A restless Kairi faces Riku alone on the beach, and the words between them begin to arc like fire.


_**Riku –x- Kairi | oneshot | romance**_

chemicals react.

Kairi looked back at Riku with wide, apprehensive eyes. She felt as if she needed to pinch herself. Was this even _real_ or was this simply another painful, gut-wrenching dream? "You've been away with Sora for the longest time . . ." she finally said, only then becoming self-aware of the fact that her own chest was heaving a bit.

"We had to do as the king asked us to do. We always have and we always will," Riku said calmly in reply, and though his body language was completely cool and collected in nature, an entire ocean of thoughts and considerations pierced from his eyes on into Kairi's own blue orbs.

Kairi, feeling the stare last just a second longer than usual, makes a strange sort of sound; as it's uttered from somewhere in the bottom of her throat she turns her head away, dropping her gaze quickly to the sand beneath her feet.

"We miss you each time we go, too. We always have – we always will," Riku says to her; her eyes remain on the sand, though.

". . . _Take me with you next time . . ."_ she says in a voice barely above that of a whisper, and it's then that she looks back up, catching Riku's gaze.

"Sora wouldn't want –"

Before he can finish the thought, Kairi has dropped her gaze from his again. He sighs and discontinues the answer; maybe it's too obvious? Maybe she just doesn't want to hear it. Or, maybe, she's depressed and dejected-looking because of the one, most breathtakingly obvious reason of all.

"Here," Riku says, offering her his hand though the look in his eyes changes to reveal a feeling of sadness and not much else as he does so. "I'll take you to Sora, Kairi. Mickey gave him special instructions to go home first and let his folks there know he's okay – something or other about caring much for his friends but needing to broaden his priorities; I dunno."

Kairi takes his hand briefly, before letting go and shaking her head. "I'm glad Sora and you are safe."

"Kairi, really, it's no trouble, I'll walk you over there if –"

"I love Sora, in my own way; it's true –"

"- his mom won't care and –"

"-but, after all this time my heart tells me –"

"- we'd get there in no time –"

"- _I'm in love with you, Riku._"

"I – what?" The silver-haired young man's voice falls flat, though his surprise is far from dull; his heart is suddenly pounding from what he's certainly just misheard Kairi say – _It's nice_, he thinks, because for a while he was pretty sure he forgot all about having a heart to feel with in the first place.

Looking back to Kairi, Riku now sees that she's no longer dejected looking, but almost angry. He takes note of how her hands are balled into fists at her sides. The lips are slightly pursed, though not too tightly. More than mere anger, this is a look of incredulity. "Kairi," he says to her, unable to stop the corners of his mouth from jerking upward slightly. "Kairi, are you serious?"

"What do you think I'm angry at you for now?" she says, furrowing her brow. "I thought you knew I loved you, Riku."

"I knew you loved Sora," he says, daring to correct her notion. "Everyone here – it's just this, this 'given' –"

"I have a very special relationship with Sora, Riku, but it doesn't mean that –"

"- like everyone just assumes one day you and he are destined to –"

"- oh, screw destiny, forget fate. I'm the captain of my own heart. It may be fought over, but in the end, you're . . . Riku, and –"

"- Fate or not, Kairi, no matter what anyone thinks, I feel like I can't stay away from you though; right or wrong -"

"- Wrong or right, Riku –"

**"_It's like a moth to a flame."_**

Simultaneously blinking and looking back to one another after murmuring the same exasperated explanation for their feelings at precisely the same time, Kairi slowly raises her hands over her mouth, covering it as Riku becomes the first to speak, saying: "I guess we do know each other better than we both initially thought."

Kairi gives a quiet sort of laugh, lowering her hands; she can't help it – Riku's words are too true. Her smile reaches her eyes, causing slight creases near their corners. Riku, seeing this, wants to freeze her expression and frame it on his bedroom wall: the glory and beauty of Kairi, all exemplified in a single grin. Alas, he knows not how to do this, and so he does the next best thing –

"_Oh_," Kairi says – or something close to it, for it's not really a word but rather more just a half-sound that escapes her as the strong-armed Riku folds her into them, holding her against him as he begins to kiss her; it's quite soft at first, but soon grows to be of a more eager nature.

Placing a hand at the side of Riku's face, Kairi returns his kiss the best she knows how to, feeling strangely lightheaded yet completely rooted to the ground at the same time. _Pinch me – this is a dream_, she thinks to herself.

Riku, as if he can read her mind, runs one of his hands up her back then, stroking it through its nylon fabric with his fingers all the way up, before reaching the nape of her neck, which he gently cradles as he breaks the kiss and leans forward toward her shoulder and neck area. It's there, at the side of her neck, that he plants a single, burning, lingering kiss.

When Riku finally wills himself to pull away from Kairi's intoxicating skin, he finds that a beautiful, rose-colored blush has formed a wave-shaped line across both her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. He smiles back at her, tilting his forehead downward to press his against hers. Even as they remain in this position, forehead-to-forehead, their eyes are still locked. No words are needed now to kindle the spark.

The spark just is; the chemicals just react.


End file.
